Valentine's Gift
by laksanabayushiryuu
Summary: Our first fic on Natsume Yuujinchou. Natori Shuuichi believed Valentine's Day was limited to girls and women only. Men should not bother themselves to find any present. After all, Valentine's Day was another form of human beings' silliness.


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Valentine's Gift

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Pink. Purple. Pale Purple. Shocking pink. Purple. Pink. Pink. Pink. Pink...

"Natori-san, they are going to shoot in five minutes."

Natori Shuuichi looked up to see his manager looming over him with a cup of coffee on his hand. His manager always started his day with black coffee or he would go cranky all day. Thanked god Natori himself had no addiction with coffee. He liked coffee in a very normal way.

Sipping his own coffee, Natori scanned his surroundings. He was in Shibuya to shoot his latest television drama—a story about ordinary salaryman who found a huge bag of money at train station which led him to unexpected adventure in Japanese political world, which Natori found was quite boring. What caught his interest these past week was nothing but the mere fact that his outdoor shooting locations were mostly decorated in pink, purple or...various kind of pink colors. Every time Natori turned around, he would simply see pink colored stuff from the corner of his eye. Big advertisement boards and store banners were screaming words that would make many girls in this world squealed in excitement.

Valentine's Day's coming people!

Oh, yes, in one day Natori's agency would be flooded by tons of chocolate, flowers, teddy bears, and even more quirky stuff like...pink underwear—all for Natori Shuuichi. Seriously, who gave pink underwear to man? Fans could be very scary. Natori groaned inwardly, remembering last year's Valentine's Day when presents from fans had taken the entire space of his living room. Despite his well-maintained gentleman image, Natori Shuuichi was not a romantic person. He flirted, okay. However, he would never spend his time to find a date. It was too much pain in ass.

Besides, it would be hard to explain to your date why you suddenly stormed out of a restaurant and did a weird hand movement then began chanting in the middle of street. He could not say 'sorry girl, you see...naughty spirits are everywhere'. The girls would either get freaked out or laugh it off.

Heck. Being exorcist was complicated.

And he was not getting any younger. In two year he would reach his late twenties which meant more demanding questions about girlfriend, fiancée, and marriage. Perhaps he had to consider dating another exorcist although it would be very hard to find an exorcist who possessed same level of power as his. Well, he could try to find a girl from infamous exorcist family line. Or, he could ask his family to arrange a meeting with...wait! Wait, wait, just damn wait! Why the hell did he think about this? He had no problem being single! He enjoyed his title as 'most charming and eligible bachelor of the year', according to a survey conducted by some magazines. He did not need woman in his life—for now.

Natori blamed the exaggerating pinkish, corny decoration for messing up with his head.

"Natori-san, are you ready?" asked the director.

Throwing his usual enchanting smile, Natori adjusted his clothes and walked toward the camera.

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Natori blinked at his manager. "I have day off tomorrow? Wow."

They were currently at their agency office to discuss some future projects. The manager flipped through pages of his schedule book. "Yes, it turned out that the photo shoot for magazine's canceled. The studio has rescheduled the shooting to next week, depends on the weather." He looked at the falling snow from office window. "Oh my, Tokyo looks like Sapporo in this kind of weather."

The actor agreed silently. The snow was piling up again and beginning to cover main roads. Well, he could care less since tomorrow he did not have to move from his bed. The workloads had stolen considerable amount of his sleep. He watched his manager gathered all of their stuff before following him to basement. Natori sighted his brand new sport car was parked next to his manager's Toyota SUV. After briefly saying goodbye to each other, Natori climbed into his car and turned its engine on.

The road outside was already dark even though it was still 5.30 PM. What did you expect from winter? Natori sighed. He stopped as the traffic light at junction turned red. "Let's see what they have on radio," Natori mumbled, pushing a button on the steering wheel. Music echoed inside his car almost instantly.

Natori had no idea whose song it was, probably new artist since he did not recognize the voice. A moment later, the song was replaced by cheerful, melodic voice of young woman. "Hello, guys! You are listening to Tokyo Hype and still with me Miku! Are you ready for more latest update on music world?"

"Yeah, yeah...so ready." Natori chuckled. He remembered those days when he had to go to radio station to promote his very first album. Three years ago? Five? Time sure flew really fast. So far he had produced seven albums and many singles—more to come this year. When he had entered entertainment industry for the first time, he had only thought that he only wanted to be a model. It was only a matter of time for Natori to be a big name in this industry.

Then the woman kept talking about new singles on the market as Natori passed rows of tall buildings. He did not feel like going home now. His condominium was almost empty during weekday. Due to his hectic schedule, he often stayed at his agency's dorm or hotel. Heck, he did not even consider his place as 'home'. He had lost his 'home' years ago when his family had forced him to be exorcist. Well, forcing was not quite a right word. They had not forced Natori but...as a young man Natori had had no other choice. Way back then, his family had been a distinguished, well-know family of exorcists. However, its reputation had gone to nothing when no one in the family had not produced any powerful exorcist.

Until Natori Shuuichi had been born into this world.

Then, unfortunately, he took the whole burden into his shoulder.

"...and tomorrow is Valentine's Day!" The woman's voice pulled Natori away from his deep thoughts. "So, girls, are you ready with your chocolate? How do you feel about tomorrow? Anxious? Happy? And for single people out there, don't worry! I know Valentine's Day could be very intimidated sometimes...but I think Valentine's Day is not only for lovers."

Another too-bad-you-cannot-enjoy-February-fourteenth-because-you-are-single thingy. Natori sighed at that. He had done a photo shoot for one magazine's special edition on Valentine's Day. And, again, the set had been so horrible with pinkish color everywhere! Ridiculous.

Shaking his head, Natori concentrated on the fact that he would not need to go to work tomorrow. He should order delivery like pizza or burger tonight or simply watched TV lazily. Gosh, how long was it since the last time he had watched TV for leisure? He glanced throughout the window and saw the rows of buildings. Tokyo did not have beautiful scenery. It was quite boring, actually. Contrary to his image, again, Natori did not like big city—everything was suffocating and overwhelming. He could not understand why people survived living in such cramped space. Well, again, it had to do with money and social status.

Why did he sound like a pessimist?

Natori groaned inwardly.

"Master, are you alright?" Hiiragi appeared on passanger seat out of the blue. If Natori had not been used to Hiiragi's habit on showing up out of nowhere, he would have jumped on his seat. He frowned, making a mental note to talk about this issue with Hiiragi. Meanwhile, Hiiragi pretended not to see his master's annoyed look. "I have question, Master," Hiiragi continued.

"What is it?"

"Why do people give chocolate on Valentine's Day?" asked Hiiragi who obviously had been listening to the radio program, "And why single people cannot get chocolate?"

Natori shrugged. "It's just silly thing human beings do."

"Yes, Master, I know humans can be very silly but you still haven't answered my questions."

The blond haired man wished he had written a book about human behavior—which most likely would have had tittle like 'Introduction to Humans' or 'Ayakashi's Guide to Human's Quirkiness'—then shoved it to Hiiragi. "You see, Valentine's Day...somehow has become a day when human gives a chocolate to someone he or she likes. Well, you can give other stuff too, such as teddy bear or flowers."

Hiiragi listened to his master intensely. The ayakashi nodded slightly and spoke up, "So basically you give something to someone you like during Valentine's Day. Are you going to give something to Natsume too?"

"What?" Natori looked dumbfounded.

"Natsume, Master. I see you like him very much. Are you going to give him something?"

Tapping his fingers on steering wheel, Natori took a deep breath. Wait, why did he need to take a breath? The man frowned. This whole Valentine's Day drove him crazy. And why Hiiragi had to bring Natsume to the picture? "Hiiragi, it considers kind of weird for a man to give another man a gift on Valentine's Day."

"Why?"

"Because the girls and women should be the ones who do that."

"Yet you like Natsume."

"Hiiragi, I don't think we should continue this conversation."

"Yes, Master." Hiiragi nodded again. They stayed in silence for a while before another question popped inside Hiiragi's head. "Then, what if a boy gives chocolate to a girl? Does it still consider as weird?"

Natori sighed. "I think that's quite...acceptable?" He arched an eyebrow, rising the question to himself as he pictured Natsume giving a box of sweet chocolate to Tanuma. Wait...what?! Why did he had to imagine Natsume and Tanuma together?! That was absurd.

"Master, may I ask something?"

"What?" Natori finally snapped—enough was enough, he did not want to answer any question about this stupid Valentine's Day.

"Why are we stopping in the middle of road?"

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Throwing his car key to coffee table, Natori let out a heavy sigh. The ride from his agency office to the condominium had been so twisted. He blamed Hiiragi. The man probably should consider new rule for his shiki: no unnecessary conversation during car ride. Who would have guessed that explaining Valentine's Day to an ayakashi was harder than explaining where baby came from to a mere child? Natori took out his smart phone and found no e-mail on inbox. Right. He had no job tomorrow. He could sleep all day and put his sweat pants and fuzzy socks without any worries that camera would snap his picture.

However, by the time he finished taking long bath, Natori immediately felt bored. Having almost nothing to do for the rest of night made him restless. The man began making list about what he could do to be away from boredom. Well, he could watch TV. No. There was no interesting program and he did not really like watching night drama. He could read book. No. He had read all the books on his shelves—including scrolls of sutra. Oh, he could hunt for youkai. No, no, no... The problem was there were only few youkai around Tokyo; most of them had moved faraway, hiding deep inside mountain. Even ayakashi knew this city was too crowded.

"Master, if you keep frowning, you will get more wrinkle on your forehead." Hiiragi showed up when Natori was about to get a can of beer from fridge.

"I don't have wrinkle on my forehead," replied Natori dryly. He decided to grab two cans instead, with a bottle of premium sake he had received from his fellow actor. The exorcist noticed Hiiragi was giving him a look. "What?" Natori asked.

"Are you planning to get drunk like that pig cat?" Hiiragi asked back.

"No." Although the idea did come to his head.

Hiiragi did not say anything again,

"I know you want to speak more, Hiiragi. Spill it." Natori opened his first can and finished it down in three big gulps.

"Master, don't you like Natsume?"

Natori dropped his empty can. "Excuse me?"

"Forgive me, Master, but I'm still curious why you won't give any present to Natsume for Valentine's Day. From what I learned, Valentine's Day is the day when you give present to someone you like. Then, you mentioned only girls and women can give the present to someone they like. And men and boys are forbidden to give present." A pause. "And I know that you like Natsume."

Natori twitched. The last thing he wanted to do tonight was having a debate with Hiiragi about Valentine's Day. "It is not forbidden, Hiiragi," Natori corrected, "I still can give a woman present. I just choose not to do it, too much pain in ass. However, it is just weird if I, as a man, give a present to another man."

"Even though you like that man?"

Natori groaned, "Do I look like someone who will kiss another man?"

Hiiragi's head was tilted. "Why would you kiss Natsume?"

"I don't know! Because I like him?" Natori growled. Yeah, why would he? Natsume was like his own brother, there was no way he kissed the boy's rosy, plump lips... Wait a minute! Natori mentally smacked his head, reminding himself that he and Natsume were only friends. He. Would. Not. Kiss. Natsume. Period.

"So, if you like someone, you will give that person a kiss?"

Natori blinked rapidly. "W-wha...what? Gosh, Hiiragi!" Now Natori could see Hiiragi's point. Apparently Hiiragi had not been talking about 'liking someone in romantic way'. He did not know whether he had to laugh or cry because of their silliness. The ayakashi still had a long way to go to understand the creature named human. "Listen, Hiiragi..."

This time, Natori finally gave Hiiragi proper explanation about Valentine's Day and Hiiragi left him alone after the ayakashi felt satisfied.

Really, he should consider writing 'Human 101 for Dummies: Ayakashi Edition'.

Laying on his couch and cradling his drink on one hand, Natori absentmindedly staring at white ceiling. Suddenly, he found himself was thinking of Natsume. The boy, lately, constantly came into his mind. Natori always could not help but feel worried. The boy was the most selfless person Natori had ever met. Natsume was always ready to hel people and ayakashi around him to the point that he did not care of getting himself hurt. The line between bravery and stupidity was so thin that it gradually scared Natori shitless. Much to his own surprise, Natori cared for the boy. He did not remember since when he had started to worry for Natsume. Perhaps after he saw how Natsume constantly involved in trouble just because he wanted to help a small, nameless youkai.

Natori was drawn into Natsume's kindness and honesty.

He sighed then put the glass on coffee table before reaching for his phone.

Three long dial tones and... "Hello, Natsume-kun, this is Natori."

"Natori-san?" Natsume was obviously surprised. Well, it was unusual for the man to make a phone call to Natsume after all. "Can I help you?"

"I was... You see, I thought I could give you a call?" What was that? He sounded like a man who was flirting with his girlfriend. There was not how you speak to a boy you considered as little brother!

Natsume laughed slightly. "Uhm, Natori-san, are you in the middle of practicing your line on the script?"

Yes, yes, that's it! Natori read too many corny lines on his script.

"Natori-san?"

"Oh, sorry, Natsume-kun. I was spacing out." Natori replied hurriedly, stood up and began pacing around his living room.

"So, can I help you, Natori-san? Is it about another exorcism you are currently doing?" Natsume asked.

"Actually, I have a day off tomorrow and I think it's be nice if I come to visit your place," answered Natori swiftly, not knowing what he was talking about. He had no idea why he suddenly brought up such subject. "I mean, I know tomorrow you have school...but...oh, never mind. Just forget what I asked. It was a very bad idea."

Natsume did not say anything for a moment, while Natori cursed for his own stupidity. "Do you know tomorrow is Valentine's Day, Natori-san?" asked Natsume out of the blue, leaving Natori dumbfounded, "Is it okay if I give something to you?"

Natori stopped pacing.

"And could you...uhmm, come down for a sec? I don't know how to enter your condominium and the security guy has been looking suspiciously at me for a while now."

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The very next morning, Hiiragi found Natori was sleeping and sprawling on sofa with Natsume curled on his side. The shiki frowned, making a mental note to ask Natori what had happened last night that Natsume ended up sleeping there. Hiiragi also did not miss a small box clutching on Natori's right palm.

Really, human beings were so confusing.

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end  
*requested by Night Antares who loves Nyanko-sensei so much


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